AUSTIN (KXAN) — After nearly four years of construction, the new University of Texas graduate business school will hold its grand opening Thursday. The Robert B. Rowling Hall will feature 80 study breakout rooms, 23 conference rooms and 17 classrooms. It’s a space that’s designed not just for students but for the entire business community to interact with the next generation of business leaders.

When the business school set out to design the five-story building with six floors of underground parking back in 2012, it was imagining what learning about business would be like 30 years from now.

“It was a really exciting process for all of us to go through together as a community to think about how we design a space that is really going to afford us the opportunity to educate the way we want to, to lead in research the way we want to and really showcase all that we do,” says Tina Mabley, assistant dean and director of the full-time MBA program at the school of business.

Six graduate school programs will work out of the building that will be home to 520 students from around the world. The school raised $58.25 million to help fund the project, in addition to money from the university.

One of the goals was making sure the Austin business community felt welcome to be a part of the school — especially since 30 percent of the graduates go on to work in the tech field. The location of the building on the edge of campus by MLK Boulevard was intentional to allow the business community easy access to the school.

“We want to capitalize on all of the businesses that have been moving here and really capitalize on an overlapping space for us to bring in people from the business community and allow our students access to the city as well,” Mabley says.

The classrooms are designed around the idea of allowing faculty to be innovative in their teaching and to have a space that encourages group projects and collaborative thinking. “In this day and age when students are coming together to learn, they are really utilizing the classroom for the learning they can do together,” Mabley says.

Mabley says they will likely take the rest of the spring semester and the summer to fully move in and start classes this fall. Once it’s open to students, the public is encouraged to check out the space which will feature a café and bar on the first floor.